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Shared with permission. Only Chatham county, but County Commissions see this as a means to money, and don't much care about the cnsequences of bad legislation. Currently, if you breed a Border Collie in Chatham County, GA, you must pay $250 the first time and $1000 the second. And you must spay or neuter the litter when appropriate and the parents immediately. Fairly long read, but essential:

 

CHATHAM COUNTY GA Breeders PLEASE read. Other breeders need to read also!!!!
Follow up on Chatham County GA Animal Services new ordinances as I have understood them today. Sorry it is long but needs to be read. I will update as I get further information.
On May 12, 2017, there was an amended ordinance passed that states the following (ordinance 22-202 (you will find it at the very bottom)). Goes into effect JULY 1, 2017.
"Breeders of AKC, or similar registries as listed on the official website of Animal Services, registered animals must possess a business permit and comply with all state regulations. Any dog born that is not registered must be spayed or neutered as soon as medically possible as well as both parents, if possible. Any breeder of such animal who does not have AKC registration but has intentionally bred will pay a super breeder fee of $250.00 for failure to comply. Upon second conviction, the super breeder fee shall be $1000.00."
When I spoke to Animal Services this morning I was told that if the dog was not AKC registered that they would fall under this ordinance. NO OTHER REGISTRIES, at this time, are recognized. Also, that they might possibly in the future, allow further registries like the Border Collie registry to be allowed. I was told that no mixes would be allowed to be bred. I have also obtained a copy of one letter that was sent out by Animal Services and given to several breeders over the weekend that states no puppies can be sold after July 1st of 2017 that are not AKC registered. If you sell a puppy or dog that is not AKC registered you will become a SUPER BREEDER and fined accordingly.
This may only be affecting Chatham County, at this time, but where will be next? It could possibly be used as a model for other counties. I myself do not see how this can be legal to start with but also find it very discriminating to all other registries and for sure some breeds that are not AKC registered. What other species could this lead to in the future.
Please send me a PM if you are interested in fighting this. I do know of one registry that has already been contacted about the ordinance change and waiting to hear what their plans on how to fight this. We need numbers to make ourselves heard and hopeful have this overturned quickly.

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"...When I spoke to Animal Services this morning I was told that if the dog was not AKC registered that they would fall under this ordinance. NO OTHER REGISTRIES, at this time, are recognized."

 

This is especially worrisome to me. The worst registry is made to seem like the reputable, authoritative one. <_<

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This is so troubling on multiple fronts, not the least of which is to select one provider of registrations (AKC) with the exclusion of every other provider of registrations, no matter how valid (or invalid) any individual provider might be. It is giving an arbitrary, unfounded, monopoly to that single provider.

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Realize, the AKC had nothing to do with their selection - it's the only Registry they'd heard of. Legislative Liasons wasn't aware of this until after it had passed - the would have helped fight it had they known.

 

The basic point being, lousy legislation is now usually coming at the County level. Sticking our collective heads in the sand because we don't like this or that group helps no one. The NAIA and AKC are currently the people most versed and best able to help fight this sort of foolishness. You need to join them in the fight, not nedessarily in the peace.

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I am not blaming AKC, just pointing out that to select one entity and exclude all others, is not right. Yet, you are surely right in that AKC, with its name recognition, would be the default anyone who didn't know better or was ignorant of alternatives/options would choose.

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Jbridges, did you speak to AC or was that post copied? I have several friends in Chatham county and they were not told ACK only when they inquired. However, looking at AC website I cannot locate the list of acceptable registries anywhere..

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Spoke to them this afternoon, one of them is a vet and specifically brought this matter up, was told no, it did t apply to legit registries, but yeah, the page is blank and no one can answer the question. Sad and ironic, ABCA has a base in GA.

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Worse than sad and ironic - believe that the AR folks are in there pitching "The ABCA supports CRUELTY TO ANIMALS> THEY SIC THEIR DOGS ON DEFENSELESS SHEEP!!!" County commissioners, with very few exceptions, will grease the squeakiest wheel, they have no personal interest in most issues. The ABCA needs to be on these folks (the Commissioners) like white on rice to put it politely. Or otherwise, they won't be recognized and your options will be breed AKC or be illegal, as far as Borders in Chatham County are concerned. And realize, this will be the model for every county in turn if it isn't squelched. Put the feud aside and fight the common enemy.

 

--johnny

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Missouri has actually passed some fairly strict breeding laws. However, people have to get caught for them to be enforced. You aren't supposed to have more than 3 intact bitches, whether or not you are breeding them, without a kennel license.

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Call it as you will, 'disagreement' is fine. Again the point is, co-operation against laws being pushed by AR activists will work better than hand - wringing while all the dogs lose.

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It was a conflict, and is known in US working Border Collie culture as "The Dog Wars", which is also the name of Don McCaig's excellent book about the efforts of the useful working dog supporters to keep the Border Collie from being assimilated by the AKC, where its worth would be measured primarily by criteria that have nothing to do with the work. I say "primarily" because AKC and BCSA do put on events that are essentially watered-down trials where dogs can earn titles in "herding". So there is some lip service but work really takes a back seat to the show and sport venues.

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I was confused by this thread and interested so I did a little reading. This was not passed without public input and public hearings. This thread makes it sound like it was, and that it was passed in cahoots with the AKC and is specifically about border collies/ABCA.

 

What this seems to be about is controlling the population of strays and surrenders in local shelters. What is the euthanasia rate in your municipal shelters or SPCA (whatever you have down there in your area)? It seems the county was trying to create more responsible breeding and dog ownership to cut down on the costs and numbers of dogs that cycle into shelters/are euthanized. I live in NY and private rescues as well as our local SPCA are always transporting dogs from the south to save them. They post about van loads and semi-tractor's full of dogs coming up from southern states. The news does 'heartwarming' stories on it. People eat it up and dogs are immediately adopted out.

It seems your county is trying its best (though I agree misguided by only including AKC dogs initially) to help the problem. Most people only know of the AKC for a dog registry, but it seems they are learning and are going to be including more registries (according to the animal services website anyways).

 

I also see no evidence, at least that I can find online, that this law was proposed originally by animal rights activists. Do you know otherwise? Curious because a law like this would probably never pass in my area. We have a mill 15 min. from me with 2 giant buildings and 400 on site at any time (according to their inspections). I think breeders would really unite if the county tried to pass a similar law.

 

I found this article from April:

http://savannahnow.com/news/2017-04-20/commission-tackles-revisions-chatham-county-animal-control-ordinance

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I say "primarily" because AKC and BCSA do put on events that are essentially watered-down trials where dogs can earn titles in "herding".

 

At the time they didn't even have that. The only thing ACK did at the time was conformation and obedience competition.

 

Actually, there's nothing inappropriate about the use of the word "war" to describe a conflict that's not military. From the Mirriam-Webster site:

 

a : a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism

b : a struggle or competition between opposing forces or for a particular end a class war a war against disease

c : variance, odds

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war)

There was most definitely conflict and struggle between the opposing factions and we were most decidedly at odds. ;)

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Most any time legislation is presented that specifically names AKC folks go off the deep end assuming that AKC was behind it when it may actually be furthest from the truth and a simple case of who ever wrote the legislation simply was unaware of the many different registries and thought that AKC was where all responsible breeders registered their dogs.

I would say the vast majority of the general public have never heard of ABCA and recite the same thing they have been told for years, that any registry other the AKC is a junk alternative puppy mill registry, simply not knowing that there are some very creditable registries aside from AKC.

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True. I grew up with a Border Collie-like dog and was highly incensed to find out that AKC did not recognize the breed of my beloved dog.

 

After all, I, like most people who did not know otherwise, felt AKC was the gold standard of dogdom. And I think that's still the case for a majority of people.

 

Certainly, if I was going to buy a purebred of any of a number of breeds, I'd hate to admit it but an AKC breeder would likely be where I'd look first. Of course, what I would actually do would not be buying a purebred of another breed, especially not one that's been inbred, show-bred, and bred to exaggeration by the AKC world.

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... a purebred of another breed, especially not one that's been inbred, show-bred, and bred to exaggeration by the AKC world.

 

Bit of a tangent, but I just got home from doing an elementary school assembly with Bodhi about dogs. There was a police K-9 officer there with his young working, certified working police dog, a stunning GSD from Slovenia who looks nothing like the ACK show GSDs. His back was straight, as well as his back legs. It was refreshing to see, despite the fact he had to be kept a distance from the other dogs there, who he was eyeing with malicious looking intent. :rolleyes:

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Some of us who were around during the Dog Wars in the '80s might remember it a little differently. :lol:

 

Just ask Donald. He was right on the front lines.

Oh, so sorry --- I did not by any stretch mean to imply that there was not a battle. There certainly was, and it is a tragedy that the border collie breed and all of the good people who worked and fought so hard for the dogs lost.

 

No, meant that in general a "feud" implies that each side has a point, and each side is doing unkind, nasty, dangerous, and/or criminal things to the other, and that this continues long past the time that anyone even remembers why the feud started in the first place. Hatfields and McCoys, that kind of thing.

 

By that definition, it was no feud.

It was an attack on the breed by the ACK, defended hard and long by those who cared, and as I said, tragically lost.

 

Once lost, the battle did not continue, and while the ACK has certainly continued to do terrible things to the breed, the border collie people have not attacked the ACK.

 

Although we do tend to say unflattering things about the organization, the things we say are true, and we are not bombing their headquarters or anything.

 

So that is why I didn't think "feud" was the right word.

But I was just arguing semantics. Never mind. :)

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